Louisville Family Law®

The State Department and international abduction cases

Home > Blog > 2016 > June > The State Department and international abduction cases

Jun 2, 2016

The State Department and international abduction cases

Posted By
Louis P. Winner

Kentucky parents may continue having disputes regarding their child well
after the divorce decree is signed and the child custody and visitation
order is in place. Unfortunately, sometimes one parent will abduct the
person's child in order to prevent the other parent from exercising
the parent's child custody or
visitation rights. This situation is especially serious when a parent absconds to an entirely
different country with the child.

In international parental child abduction cases, the parent left behind
may turn to the State Department for help. The State Department can help
in a variety of ways. It can give the parent information about the resources
the person may have that could help return the child to the U.S., including
information about attorneys in the country the child was abducted to that
might be able to help.

If the country where the child was taken to is a member of the Hague Abduction
Convention, the State Department can accept the parent's Hague application
and keep tabs on the case's development. In addition, the State Department
can facilitate communications with other agencies and organizations that
may be helping the parent left behind.

That being said, there are also some things the State Department cannot
do when it comes to international abduction cases. It cannot step in and
simply take custody of the child, nor can it help a parent break either
U.S. law or the laws of another country. It also cannot provide a parent
with legal advice or represent the parent in court proceedings.For these
reasons, parents of a child who was abducted by the other parent to another
country may want to retain an attorney who can provide legal advice and
representation, so that the child can be safely returned.